


Prompt #020 Hero

by kurgaya



Series: Divine Footsteps [11]
Category: Bleach
Genre: M/M, Translation Available, Перевод на русский | Translation in Russian
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-05
Updated: 2013-04-05
Packaged: 2017-12-07 13:18:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/748937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurgaya/pseuds/kurgaya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hollows and battles and strange butterfly-shinigami mutants (Aizen) he could handle. Spiders he could not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Prompt #020 Hero

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Очерк #020 Герой](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5653225) by [a_m](https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_m/pseuds/a_m)



> I feel you, Ichigo, I feel you.

**Spider**

Ichigo hadn't even known you could get spiders in Soul Society until he had walked past one and it had pounced on him.

Well, okay, it hadn't _attacked_ him, but he had still leapt back in fright and hurried into Toshiro's office without a second thought. There, he launched himself onto the sofa and lifted up his knees, tucking his feet close so that the eight-legged creature out in the hallway didn't get any ideas.

Cursing, because he had a sick spider-sense that seemed to alert him to their presence, the cowering shinigami hero peered through the door that he had forgotten to close in his haste to check the location of the spider. Ignorance was a bliss, but now that he knew he wasn't alone, he wasn't letting the spider out of his sights for too long. That way, if it hunted him down, he could run away in terror before it got too near.

Relaxing very slightly, because it was still sitting where he had left it, Ichigo turned his attention to the room he was in - both boyfriend and paperwork-less. Toshiro was out with some of the new recruits today, and Matsumoto was in charge of the rest, so Ichigo hadn't been planning on entering the empty office during his trek through the tenth division when he had noticed the spider sitting against the corridor wall.

Remembering that he was meant to be keeping watch, the taicho risked a glance out through the doorway and then squealed pathetically when the spider scampered across the floorboards.

Hollows and battles and strange butterfly-shinigami mutants (Aizen) he could handle. Spiders he could not. He had tried to explain his absolute terror of them to Chad once, when he had seen a trantula picture in a magazine, but for all of the quiet man's understanding, he hadn't been able to comprend Ichigo's gut-wrentching reaction to gazing at something that even looked _remotely_ spider-shaped. Part of this confusion was Ichigo's fault however, because he hadn't really been able to explain how his stomach twisted and his whole body screamed ' _NO!_ ' everytime he saw a spider, and that the noises that came out of his mouth when he saw one crawl across the floor were involuntary and _oh-so-totally_ pride-damaging.

When he looked up for a second time, it was gone.

"Noooo," he cried, for knowing that there was a spider around and not being able to see it was so, _so_ much worse.

He didn't get up to look for it though.

Of course, this meant he was still curled up on the sofa half an hour later when Toshiro returned from his day, sighing and not registering the fact that his boyfriend had set up a pillow-fort on one side of the room. It was only when the ginger whined that he noticed, and the little taicho stopped abruptly in the middle of the room, one thin eyebrow rising in surprise.

"Do I dare ask?"

"There's a spider in the hallway," Ichigo blurted before he could stop himself from sounding like a child. "It's really big, and I don't know where it's gone."

The other white eyebrow slowly joined the first. "A spider," Toshiro repeated, scanning his eyes over to the door. "You're scared of spiders."

"Don't laugh," snapped Ichigo, flushing angrily. "I can't help it."

Toshiro just shook his head in disbelief, though the edges of his mouth had pulled up into a smirk. He slid Hyorinmaru off of his back and then fetched the used coffee mug from the desk, rummaging through the drawers for a piece of scrap paper - he pulled out an envelope and then knocked the drawer shut with his foot.

"This big enough?" he asked, waving the mug in Ichigo's direction and walking out of the office.

Ichigo nodded as he passed by, and then scrambled up off of the sofa after his boyfriend. There was no real need, for Toshiro had made no move to catch the menace - in fact, he just stood in the middle of the corridor looking fairly amused.

"Well, where is it then?"

It wasn't anywhere to be found. His bravery destroyed, Ichigo whimpered and scurried back onto the sofa, hiding himself back under the pillows. Toshiro chuckled and came back into the room after giving the corridor another once-over, setting the spider-catching equpiment back onto the desk. He made no comments about his boyfriend's fear, which Ichigo was terribly thankful for, and started to talk about his diasterous day with his new officers to fill up the awkward quiet.

If he noticed how Ichigo glanced over at the doorway every five seconds, he didn't say anything about that either.  


 


End file.
